Context Clues
by BlueSuedeShoes
Summary: for SuNgLaSsEs-ChI'c: Oliver stumbles across a little more information than he was expecting about Chloe. Is she seeing someone else?


**Author's Comment: Based on a prompt from SuNgLaSsEs-ChI'c. Hope you enjoy!**

**BlueSuedeShoes**

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"Chloe?"

Oliver poked his head in the door of the Talon apartment.

"Hello?"

She wasn't there. By the looks of things, though, and by the fact that the door had been cracked open, she would probably be back soon.

Oliver smirked. He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to try to figure out what she wanted for her upcoming birthday.

Glancing over his shoulder and listening to be sure he couldn't hear anyone coming up the stairs, he headed for her bedside table. Doing his best not to disturb anything he quickly eliminated a few items as belonging to Lois.

He remembered the first time he made the mistake of assuming that being a particular part of the room meant something belonged to either Lois or Chloe. He chuckled at the memory. At the time it had been incredibly awkward to think the light green lacy teddy had belonged to Chloe. When it had appeared on Lois three nights later, he'd had to carefully swallow is surprise. He hadn't been able to look Chloe directly in the eye for at least a week. Of course, _now_ he was completely comfortable envisioning Chloe in any and all undergarments of the scandalous nature that he stumbled across in the apartment. Back then, though, it had just been plain awkward.

"Context clues," he muttered under his breath, thinking of what he'd told Clark recently as he searched for any bookmarked pages in the magazines on the nightstand. Then he dropped them, recognizing first that Chloe didn't read a lot of magazines, and second, that she wasn't the type to bookmark pages. Anything of that variety would have Lois's name written all over it.

He looked over at the table Chloe and Lois shared. Chloe's laptop was sitting on it, simply begging him to take a look. Her computer was by far the safest possible thing in the room to look at. No one who knew what was good for them _touched_ it without her permission. As a matter of fact, he was a little concerned about leaving his own finger prints on it as he lifted the screen. He shot another somewhat nervous glance over her shoulder.

He was planning on checking her recent search history, but was distracted by the unfinished e-mail that had been left open on her desktop. He wasn't planning to read it, but a brief glance caught his attention.

_I'm sure I'll be able to break away for the weekend. He hasn't exactly been paying a lot of attention to me lately, so I doubt he'll care. I think a little time off with the "other man" in my life is exactly the change of scene I ne--"_

The message cut off mid-word, as though Chloe's attention had been suddenly drawn to something else.

Oliver stared at it, reading and re-reading it, trying to convince himself that there was a second interpretation in there somewhere. Yet, the fact remained that no matter how many times he read it, no matter how he tried to spin it, it still said one thing to him: Chloe was seeing another man.

She wasn't just seeing someone else, she was planning a weekend getaway with this guy, and she was claiming that Oliver hadn't been paying her any attention.

His first instinct was to fly into a jealous rage. The jealousy stuck, but the unjustified rage didn't. Forcing himself to calm down, he reminded himself that he wasn't Chloe's boyfriend. Nothing about their bizarre relationship said she wasn't allowed to see other people. She was completely within her rights.

Not that that was going to stop him, of course, from derailing this little love-train as quickly as possible. Glaring at the treacherous computer once more he shut it and was on his way out of the apartment when he accidentally collided with Lois.

"Watch it, Jolly Green," she warned jokingly. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked, briskly moving past him and not noticing the look on his face.

"Looking for Chloe," he said, trying to keep his voice unreadable.

"She went to grab us some coffee. Should be back any minute. Why don't you stick around?"

"I--something just came up, and I've got to get going."

"I'll tell her you stopped by!" Lois called after him as he abruptly fled the room. She quirked an eyebrow at his strange departure then rolled her eyes. "God, men are weird," she muttered to herself before sitting down to Chloe's laptop to finish her e-mail. She'd made the vital error of somehow losing the power cord for her own laptop, and when her battery died that morning, she'd had to borrow Chloe's computer to take care of her e-mail.

_I think a little time off with the "other man" in my life is exactly the change of scene I need. Besides, you and I are long over due on our own awkward brand of father-daughter time._

_Love, Lo_

She hit send, closed out of the yahoo account, and sighed, tossing her cell phone on the table. Halfway through her e-mail she'd had an absolute heart attack, realizing her cell phone wasn't on her. Luckily it had been on the counter downstairs, but it was still enough to make her realize that between that and the power cord, she was seriously in need of some organizational skills.

* * *

--One Day Later--

"Hey, beautiful."

Chloe jumped out of her skin when Oliver's arms wrapped around her from behind. She'd been so absorbed in what she was doing that for once, he'd snuck up on her.

"Don't tell me I actually surprised you for once?" he said smugly, noting her startled reaction.

"Just a bit," she conceded grudgingly. "Listen, now's really not a good time. I'm really busy with something AC wanted me to track down."

Oliver's jaw clenched slightly. AC? Was _he_ the other guy? He tried to shake the thought, refusing to believe that one of his team would have the gall to mess around with Chloe behind his back.

"Which reminds me, I might need to head out to Florida in the near future to work on this with him. It's a very tricky situation."

"Why do you need to head out there?" Oliver asked sharply. The least she could do if she were seeing another man would be to tell him straight up, not try to disguise it as work.

"It's no big deal," she said, pulling out of his arms to check another monitor. "It's just this very discreet smuggling ring he suspects he found at one of the docks. Trouble is he hasn't been able to wrangle up much proof. Says he got hold of a laptop that he wants me to hack."

"Can't he just mail it to you?"

Chloe gave him a funny look. "Um, yeah, I guess, but it seems like an unnecessary use of postage."

"As compared to the plane ticket you'll be purchasing?"

Chloe laughed. "Actually, I was thinking of riding with Impulse International," she quipped.

Oliver's heart sank. "But--but your birthday's this weekend," he pointed out.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but Lois is thinking of going out of town this weekend to see the General, and you've got a business trip, so I figure what better way to spend my time than on a beach in Florida? Breaking the computer shouldn't take me more than half an hour tops, and after that I'll have the whole weekend for a little R&R. I'll just have Bart come back for me Monday morning."

Oliver internally cursed himself. He'd made up the business trip a week ago as a hoax, planning to surprise her on her birthday. "Actually--" he was preparing to confess that he'd made the business trip up, but then, the sick, jealous part of him wanted her to admit that she was romantically involved with AC first. She was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his statement. "I was going to ask you if you wanted me to cancel. It wouldn't be a big deal," he added dismissively.

Chloe studied him for a moment. "That's really sweet," she said slowly, "but I'm not going to be the reason the new, responsible CEO suddenly falls off the wagon," she teased, turning back to her computer.

"So you and AC will be spending the whole weekend together, then, huh?" Oliver said, watching her reaction carefully. She seemed completely unfazed by the statement.

"I guess, yeah, although I'll probably spend a lot of time by myself."

Oliver couldn't believe the blatant lie. He knew she was good at keeping secrets, but he thought they had moved past the 'I'm harboring a serial killer in my basement' phase of their relationship a long time ago.

He quickly banished all thoughts of Davis Bloom from his mind. This was nothing like that, he told himself.

In fact, it was ten times _less_ serious than that. Why couldn't she just tell him the truth? He could take it.

Probably.

"So a smuggling ring, huh?"

She glanced over her shoulder, giving him an amused look. "That's what he said," she responded slowly.

"You know what?" Oliver said, determined not to give up without a fight. "Have him mail it to you. I'll delegate the meeting this weekend. I don't have to be there. We could spend the weekend together," he tempted her, coming over to play with her hair as she typed away. He could tell she was only humoring him as she listened. "If you're really set on going to a beach we could take a trip somewhere. I bet I could find something a lot more private than a tourist-swamped beach in Florida." He nibbled on her ear.

Chloe turned around to look at him properly. "All right, what's this about? We both know my birthday isn't that big of a deal to me. And I already told you days ago I was fine with you going away for the weekend."

_Yeah_, he thought irritably, _but that was before I knew you just wanted me out of the picture._ "I just want to make sure you're not feeling neglected."

Chloe started and then frowned. "Have you been talking to Clark? I thought we both established how idiotic that i--"

"I have _not_ been talking to Clark," Oliver cut her off irritably. "I was just concerned that you felt like I wasn't paying you a lot of attention lately."

That sent Chloe into a less than amiable state. Her hand landed on her hip. "Since when am I so needy?"

"Hey, they were your words, not mine!" Oliver thought in frustration. Then, by the startled look slowly drifting into an angry look on Chloe's face, he realized he'd voiced that particular thought allowed. Instinct caused him to take a step back.

"My words?" she repeated. "What on earth are you talking about?"

_Well, so much for subtle_. "I saw the e-mail you were sending to AC."

Chloe frowned. "E-mail?"

"The one that said you were looking forward to a weekend getaway and that I wasn't paying you any attention lately."

Chloe stared at him, her mouth dropping open slightly. She shook herself. "What on _earth_ are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Chloe. The least you can do is have the decency to own up to it."

She looked at the ceiling. "Own up to what? I haven't got the slightest idea what you're talking about!"

"I saw the e-mail on your computer, Chloe. It was right there in front of me. I'm not an idiot!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You're sure talking like one--" suddenly a lightbulb turned on for her. "Wait, when did you see this hypothetical e-mail?"

"Yesterday. I stopped by to see you and I was looking for a clue for a good birthday present and it was right there on your laptop."

Chloe started laughing. "Wow."

"Hey, I fail to see this as funny. You've got every right to see whoever you want, but I have to say I'm a little hurt that you wouldn't just be up front about it, and I'm incredibly disgusted that you're seeing someone I _work _with--that I employ, actually," he added with a grimace.

At this, Chloe was positively overcome with laughter, forced to brace herself on the counter to prevent from dropping to the floor.

Oliver's ego was taking a serious hit. "What, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Y-you-hoo-hoo," she wailed mirthfully, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically.

"You think I'm having some sort of affair with AC?" she asked him, hardly able to contain herself.

"Well the evidence didn't exactly leave much room for interpretation," he said defensively, starting to wonder what was going on.

"Oliver," Chloe began, attempting valiantly to sober herself up. "I am _not_ romantically involved with AC. Or anyone other than you for that matter. When exactly do you think I would have time to juggle two men, I might add?"

Oliver didn't know how to answer that. "But--"

"That e-mail was Lois's. She borrowed my computer the other day. I told you she's going to see the General this weekend. Whatever she said about being neglected--it probably had something to do with Clark. They're not exactly in the greatest of places right now."

Oliver gaped at her.

"Let me ask you this: Did the e-mail actually name any names? Or did you just fill in the blanks?"

"I--" he couldn't finish. He could feel his face start to burn with humiliation.

Chloe giggled, walking over to throw her arms around his neck. "Oliver Queen, am I to understand that you were not only jumping to conclusions, but that you were jealous?" she teased.

"I was--" he swallowed as she kissed his neck. "I was _not_ jealous. I was just angry because I thought you were hiding things from me."

"More specifically, _another man_," she taunted him.

"You are taking way too much pleasure in this."

"I can't help it if you are the most ridiculous man on the planet."

"I resent that. We both know Clark is the most ridiculous man on the planet. Have you seen the Matrix get-up he runs around in?"

Chloe laughed. "Oliver, why didn't you just ask me about it?"

"I wanted you to come clean by yourself."

Chloe shook her head. "I can't believe you thought I was having an affair with AC, of all people."

"Okay, look, are you going to mock me for this--"

"For the rest of eternity? Absolutely."

"Listen, woman," he said, swiftly taking control of the situation. He slid his hands over her hips seductively. "It is not my fault that you are so incredibly appealing that I have to constantly watch my back." He started kissing the spot just below her ear, pulling her closer to him.

"Mr. Queen, how your mind works is simply beyond me."

"Well, let me give you a little insight," he said, running his lips over her collar bone. "You plus man who is not me equals extreme displeasure on my part."

"Caveman," she accused, sucking in a sharp breath as his hands grazed her sides lightly.

"I am not."

"Are too," she said stubbornly before he planted a kiss on her lips.

"So, I'm thinking--"

"Yeah?"

"I got extremely fixated on the image of you and me on a private beach. Particularly with you in a bikini."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Interesting. And what about that meeting you're supposed to be at?"

"I made it up," he grinned.

Chloe shoved him lightly. "You are impossible."

"I am not the one having secret affairs with fish people."

"Neither am I, dork."

"Did you just call me a dork? Really?" he teased, pinching her sides.

"I didn't want to overly damage you oh-so-delicate ego."

"Uh huh," he said dubiously, kissing her again.

"A beach, huh?"

"A very secluded beach."

"Sounds interesting."

"I was hoping you'd look at it that way."

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**Author's Comment: So here's the actual prompt:**

**"In the episode Escape Oliver mentions that he learned a long time ago not to assume what belongs to who in the apartment and he's had to learn to use**  
**context clues. Could you write about a situation in which Oliver assumes**** wrong, and context clues are not his friend?**


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